eeBoo Wall Cards

I've been working on some things in my boys' bedroom, and decided I needed to hunt down one of my all-time favorite decorations for children's rooms- eeBoo wall cards.  I love them so much I was willing to brave our packed storage unit  to find them.  Luckily I had a general idea where they were, and they were in the front of the storage unit, so really there was no braving involved, but there could have been. 
 Anyway, I love, love, love these cards!  The artwork is so whimsical, they're educational (I have a bit of an obsession with anything alphabetic), and you can't beat the quality. 

We have two sets of the cards at our house.
The Fairies in the Flower Garden set is mine. 

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Adorable, right?

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And the All Around the  Land set is for my boys (totally worth the trip to the storage unit).

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I'm using some letters from the All Around the Land set to spell out my three-year-old's name.  As much as I wanted to use the entire set, he doesn't have a lot of wall space by his bed, so I decided to just do his name.  It was, however, a bit torturous putting the other 21 cards back in the box (I've got to find some other way to use them, they're too cute to sit in a box!).

 You can use these cards in so many ways.  They're the perfect addition to any playroom, bedroom, craftroom (where I had my Fairies in the Flower Garden cards), or really any room.  You can check out all of eeBoo's products by clicking here.  My next purchase is going to be the Counting Birds set.

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Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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Peach Honey Butter

Apparently we were on a peach kick last time I was at my parents' house.  I posted a fresh peach pie recipe last week, and this week I have peach honey butter for you.

We also tried this with strawberries, and I'm sure raspberries would be delicious, but this time of year peaches call my name.  You probably don't even need a recipe for this one.  All three ingredients are in the name, but here's proportions we used. 

PEACH HONEY BUTTER

1/4 C. honey

1/2 C. butter (softened)

half of a medium peach (diced)

Mix the honey and butter together, then fold in the peaches.  If you want the peaches to stay in chunks, then don't over-stir.  You could probably mash the peaches up if you don't like the chunks, to make a more uniform mixture.  We like the chunks of peaches, so that's how we made it.

This is amazing on homemade bread or rolls, and toasted English muffins.  I'm sure it would be good on just about anything!  Oh, and we do keep ours refrigerated.

P.S.  I have to give a shout out to our family friends who make the honey we're addicted to now.  My boys were lucky enough to go and fill a jar straight from the source last time we were in Cache Valley.  We love Slide Ridge Honey!  If you live in Utah, check your locally owned grocery stores.  I saw it in Days Market for the first time last week.  They do have an online store as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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Children Learn What They Live {Printable}

My mom gave me this, "Children Learn What They Live" (by Dorothy Law Nolte) a few months ago.  I remember hearing it when I was younger, but now that I have children of my own, it really hits home with me.  I don't know if it's because school has started and we're all going through some adjustments, but I seem to be keenly aware of my parenting techniques lately.

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One of my twins has had a bit of anxiety with the first few days of first grade.   It's always a bit challenging when you see your own children struggle.  Then, if you're like me, you begin to wonder if you're doing everything you need to as a parent.  I fall short in some ways, but I feel like I do well in others.  I love quotes like this one that help me remember what's important and what I should be focusing on as a parent.  

The printable is a bit hard to read on the screen, so here's a larger version for you.

Children Learn What They Live

By:  Dorothy Law Nolte

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

This quote by Dorothy Nolte also reminded me of something I read on our church's website several years ago.  It comes from the Family Home Evening Resource Manual.  It states,

"We can learn to be better parents by studying the scriptures to see how Heavenly Father deals with his children.  We can also learn how not to act by observing Satan's methods."  The manual then provides a table showing the Lord's way in one column, and Satan's way in the other (click here to see the table).  

I know it may seem a bit extreme to compare one's self to Heavenly Father or Satan, and I understand that all of our religious views aren't the same, but the characteristics listed on the table are universal regardless of your religious beliefs.  All I know, is that it's my goal to be on the Lord's side of the table each and every day as a parent.  I'm not perfect by any means, but I have learned that there are blessings that come and improvements can be made as you try a little bit harder to be a little bit better every day.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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Box Tops Box

Box Tops.  Love them?  Hate them?  Indifferent?  Last year my boys were in kindergarten which meant Box Tops were new enough, and my boys were young enough that they were really cool.  We collected and collected all year long. 

When summer hit, I just assumed the collecting would come to a halt, but thanks to my three-year-old we haven't stopped (he can spot Box Tops a mile away, and doesn't let me miss a single one!).  Which really is fine by me.  I'm always glad to give back to schools in any way possible.  My only problem this summer was finding a place to store all of the Box Tops until school began.  I could have just put them in a baggie in the drawer, but if there's any excuse to make a cute label for a container to organize something, then I'm all over it.

I'm sure you can tell from the picture, but here's a break down of what I did.
I used a mini red storage box that I'd bought at Dollar Tree (it came in a 4-pack), made a label in PicMonkey (click here for the how-to), printed it out, cut it out, mounted it on some scrapbook paper, and then attached it to the storage box.  So simple, but so satisfying!  I really do love the old saying, "everything in its place."  

And speaking of Box Tops, my sister-in-law posted this on Facebook last week.  Maybe it's because I've been a teacher before, but I've been laughing about this one for days. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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Back to School Round Up

My twins are finishing up their first week of school today.  It's been a successful week!  Definitely a bit of a learning curve (for all of us), but overall it's been a good experience.

The other day I realized several of my older posts kind of fit into the back to school category, so I decided to make a round up.  I know many of us are already into school, but it seems that once the first week is over, then I can settle into a routine and do some of the things I've been meaning to do.  So, here's a few back to school ideas for you to use this year, or to keep for years to come.

DIY ABC Tree

DIY Back to School Labels

Back to School Countdown

New School U Theme from PicMonkey

Using Word Walls

Teacher  Appreciation Printable

Another Teacher Appreciation Printable

DIY Bookmarks

Tips For Helping Your Beginning Readers

More Tips For Helping Your Beginning Readers

Hopefully you can use some of these ideas to help make this school year a good one.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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Fresh Peach Pie

Are  you finding delicious peaches in  your grocery stores, or better yet fruit stands?  There's nothing quite like a juicy, ripe peach!  Don't you love how the fruits change with the seasons?  I couldn't get enough berries last month, and now I'm loving the peaches and getting excited for apple season.  So many things to enjoy!

My mom had this fresh peach pie made for us when we went to visit a few weeks ago.  I hadn't had homemade peach pie in quite some time, and let me tell you I have been missing out!  This pie was everything you could possibly want in a homemade pie.  I honestly savored each and every bite because I didn't want to forget the taste.

This recipe came from an old Wellsville, Utah Ward (a congregation in our church) cookbook.  Barbara Woodward contributed this recipe (thank you, Barbara!).  My mom had never made it before, but is sounded easy enough and good enough that she gave it a try. Well, we were all certainly glad she did! 

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I don't know about you, but I haven't made too many pies in my day.  But doesn't this one sounds completely doable?  You could make your own crust, and I might be tempted to just so I could make some individual peach pies in jars, but with a store-bought crust, there's really not a whole lot of complicated work involved.  Even for a beginner cook, slicing, blending, boiling, and chilling are a piece of cake (or pie in this case!).

My mom made this pie with peaches she found at the grocery store, and it was amazing!  I believe the key to this pie is finding the perfectly ripe peach.  Grocery stores can be hit and miss, but you almost can never go wrong with local fruit stands. 

My local grocery store (Days) has peaches for 77 cents a pound this week.  I'm sure hoping I can find some good ones.  It's been over a week since I've had a slice of this pie, and I've developed a serious craving while typing up this post. :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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Firsts {Printable}

I never thought I'd have a printable from Taylor Swift, but we've had a few firsts at our house over the past couple of days, and this quote from Taylor is perfect for our occasions.

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On Monday evening we discovered one (we're not quite sure which one) of our adorable chickens laid its first egg.  I honestly had no idea how exciting that moment would be.  I was helping clean up our back to school night when my phone rang.  My boys could hardly talk.  It took a couple of seconds for me to catch on to what they were trying to say, but when I did, my heart kind of skipped a beat.  It's so miraculous and fascinating to me that the fluffy bits of chicks we got back in April have grown, and now less than a year later, have given us our first egg!  

My poor three-year-old spent yesterday checking the nesting box every two minutes.  He came back with his head hung low every time, but I promised him there will be more to come. 

I'm sure the newness of the egg-laying will wear off, but isn't fun to enjoy the thrill of the first while it lasts?

And them, my twins had their first day of first grade yesterday.  It was a great day despite it seemed a bit long, and there were a few minor hiccups (like having to eat lunch with no silverware (luckily tacos were on the menu), and the devastation of throwing away a perfectly good bag of chips, all because it couldn't be opened (I guess we need to practice that one at home:)).

Just like the quote says, firsts are few and far between, so embrace and enjoy each and every one! 

What have been some of your favorite firsts?

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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